About CourseSmart

Our Story

Back In 2007⋅⋅⋅

In 2007, supported by five of the most prominent textbook publishers in higher education, CourseSmart started out with the simple goal of providing instructors in college and higher education a better textbook evaluation service.

We knew that for instructors, getting textbooks for evaluation was a tedious and time consuming task. They'd contact the publisher directly, then wait days for a book to ship or wait for the publisher sales representative to deliver it in person. And go through the same process again for each book they wanted to review.

For publishers, it was just as difficult, spending millions of dollars each year to give away thousands of sample textbooks to faculty across the country, without knowing if an instructor would eventually assign the book for their course.

CourseSmart set out to transform this costly and inefficient process by building the world's largest library of eTextbooks and digital course materials that instructors could access instantly – anytime, anywhere. Within a year after launch, over 30,000 faculty had used our eTextbook evaluaton service.

Millions Of Users, Millions In Savings

By 2008, students were telling us they wanted a digital option for textbooks too. To satisfy the student demand for our digital products, help them save money on course materials and give them the same eTextbook benefits that we introduced to instructors, we launched our digital rental service which lets students rent eTextbooks and online course materials at savings up to 60% compared to buying new print textbooks.

And we couldn't stop there. Today, many colleges, higher education institutions and bookstores also rely on us to integrate eTextbooks and digital learning content within their campus technology ecosystems to bring digital course materials directly to their faculty and student body.

Since our beginning in 2007, students have saved over $100 million collectively by choosing CourseSmart!

Millions of people in the U.S. and Canada have used our digital products, and with our expansion into the UK, Africa, the Middle East and beyond, we continue to grow globally.

More Titles, More Innovation

CourseSmart users have access to over 90% of core higher education titles used today as eTextbooks, and the largest catalog of eResources and digital course materials available, with the latest titles constantly being added.

But for us, it's not just about making the most digital learning content available to faculty and students.

We're always striving to improve the educational experience by offering all users, including those with print–related disabilities, access to the course content they need anytime, anywhere and with the best overall experience.

Read eTextbooks online or offline – in the classroom, at the library, on a bus, just about anywhere.

Use on multiple devices – laptops, tablets, smartphones, within a browser or with free apps.

Highlight, take notes, search topics, print pages and more.

eTexts support assistive technologies for accessibility by users with vision, hearing or mobility impairments.

Customer support is always available to all users 24/7.

In 2014, Vital Source Technologies, Inc. acquired CourseSmart. Vital Source Technologies is an Ingram Content Group company and the global leader in building, enhancing and delivering e-learning content. With this partnership, more innovation is on the way as we continue to bring you products, features and services to help you get the most out of your course materials.

Our Partners

CourseSmart partners with an ever–growing list of publishers, including the leading publishers in North American higher education, to make textbooks and course materials available digitally to students, faculty and institutions. For publishers, it's a new channel for distributing new and innovative e–learning materials as well as a way to provide a lower cost option to their customers with a trusted partner.

Bureau van Dijk, best known for its wide range of company information products that is co–published with many renowned information providers, provides the publishing platform that powers CourseSmart. Find out more on the Bureau van Dijk Reading Platform.